How to Cool the Planet by Capturing Contrails | Dr Sarah Qureshi | TEDxFaisalabad Medical University
Perhaps more than carbon emissions, the streaks that plague our skies are contributing to global warming?
In order to prevent global warming and provide a new source of onboard water, Dr. Sarah Qureshi, Pakistan's leading aerospace innovator, reveals a ground-breaking solution: engine-side technology that absorbs contrails, or those lingering white lines behind aircraft, and transforms them into stored liquid. Her vision? Clean skies, a cooler climate, and even rainfall on demand.In this talk, you’ll discover:Why contrails contribute more to global warming than aviation’s carbon dioxide alone—accounting for up to 50–60% of aviation’s climate impactHow her patented technology condenses water vapor inside aircraft engines to eliminate persistent contrails at source, drastically cutting aviation’s hidden warming effects
A compelling financial and environmental case for retrofitting existing planes—scalable, low-cost, and globally impactfulA bold mission for Pakistan: to showcase global leadership in green aviation and contribute to environmental solutions from Lahore to the world"We aim to make skies blue again—one aircraft at a time."
Leading a climate technology movement based on local creativity and global responsibility, Dr. Qureshi is turning research into practical action.Dr. Sara Qureshi, PhD in Aerospace Propulsion from Cranfield and a licensed pilot, is co-founder of Aero Engine Craft, Pakistan’s first aero-engine R&D company. She invented a contrail-free engine system with major climate benefits and is among the few women globally to invent a supersonic jet engine. With 33 international awards and a passion for green aviation, she’s redefining sustainable tech. A true trailblazer for women in aerospace, Dr. Qureshi was honoured with the Tamgha‑i‑Imtiaz in 2025 for her groundbreaking contributions. *We rise by lifting others.* This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
More from TED
- 17:54Your Breath Is Your Superpower: The Why, the Wow and the How! | Laurie Ellis-Young | TEDxMabletonIf you disregard the importance of your breath and think it’s mundane or boring – this talk will make you think again. Three Main Messages: 1. Breath Is Life. 2. There is extraordinary power in your ordinary breath. 3. Change your breath, change your life. Through personal stories (her own and others) Laurie weaves her messages of empowerment through the breath, showing how the quality of our breath directly impacts the quality of our lives. A fervent yearning to experience the power of breath for navigating the “highs and lows” of life, led Laurie to the heights of the Himalayas, and the depths of the Red Sea. First adventuring alone and then guiding groups to Nepal, Peru, Guatemala and twenty+ countries, she experienced how conscious utilization of breath empowered her and others to find calm, overcome fears, and achieve “peak performances” in unimagined ways.As founding director of Breathe The Change LLC and co-founder of nonprofit BreathLogic, she’s realizing her heartfelt vision and mission of implementing “Breath Literacy” as an empowering, peace-building, and healing modality in organizations dedicated to education, wellness, medicine, business, and humanitarian aid. Laurie is author with her psychologist husband, George T. Ellis, of the award-winning book, “Breath Is Life. Taking In and Letting Go: How to Live Well, Love Well, BE Well. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
- 10:32How to make AI and influence people | Sungjoo Yoon | TEDxBostonIn the age of artificial intelligence, it is not yet clear which form factors will best translate these massive advancements into winning consumer products. However, the past century of consumer technology give us a strong hint: the more information that an interface can solicit from an individual user, the greater the product quality for all of its users. This truism, coined in this talk as the "preference principle", gives us a clue into which applications of artificial intelligence will be most useful, widespread, and popular in the distant future. But what does this mean for product design, and more specifically, what will winning consumer products look like in the decades to come? Will they be more anthropomorphic than we expect?AI, Computers, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Interface design, Software Sungjoo Yoon is the cofounder, CEO, and president of Biography, the world's first relational intelligence laboratory. Prior to dropping out at 20 years of age to build applied artificial intelligence, he studied biology, government, data science, and computer science at Harvard College. He was also on the research staff of the Camerer Lab at Caltech, studying choice theory and quantitative neuroeconomics.Sungjoo Yoon is the cofounder, CEO, and president of Biography, the world's first relational intelligence laboratory. Prior to dropping out at 20 years of age to build applied artificial intelligence, he studied biology, government, data science, and computer science at Harvard College. He was also on the research staff of the Camerer Lab at Caltech, studying choice theory and quantitative neuroeconomics. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
